


Eli's First Promotion: Part Two

by ProxyWars



Series: -chanting- Thranto! Thranto! Thranto! [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017)
Genre: M/M, Thranto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-10-18 14:05:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17582321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProxyWars/pseuds/ProxyWars
Summary: Eli settles into his new role, but some doubts and questions remain.





	Eli's First Promotion: Part Two

It had been a week since they’d arrived on the _Chimaera_. Eli had expected things to be different, but not between him and Thrawn. He had actually been rather brisk with Eli, in all honesty.

_Is Thrawn stressed about his new command? An ISD is a huge responsibility, and the Chimaera is a significant gem in the fleet’s crown. Could he actually be concerned about his new responsibilities? We’re on top of everythin'. Although we did have to step on a few humanocentric toes to get the respect due Thrawn’s rank, there's not been any actual **issues**._

_Am I not meetin' the expectation of this new rank? Am I not catchin' on quick enough?_

He tried to stifle his old anxieties as he watched Thrawn command the bridge. Straight backed, hands clasped behind him, uniform immaculate as ever. Eli always liked the way Thrawn cut and slicked his hair back, it would never suit _him_ , but it looked damn good on Thrawn! He was always so graceful, even just as he sauntered the command walkway, his body always under full control.

Watching him command an ISD was different to the smaller vessels. He seemed more at home here, even as his brilliant blue skin contrasted with the warm human tones around him. This was his place. This was where Thrawn was meant to be, and he would only climb higher from here.

Eli was happier here too, not just because of his promotion. If he could only figure out what was bugging Thrawn, everything would be right with his internal galaxy.

That evening after their shift had ended and they’d spent an hour and a half in the gym, he decided to get to the bottom of the problem.

“Sir, am I doin’ ok in my new role?”

Thrawn’s step faltered slightly and he sent Eli a brief questioning glance. “It has been some time since you lacked confidence, Lieutenant Commander. It has only been a week since your promotion, you are advancing quite as expected, and significantly better than could be expected of others.” Suddenly, Thrawn stopped walking, and turned to him with a look of crushing ice, “Has someone challenged you? If you are not receiving due respect, we have discussed ways with which to achieve changing their state of mind.”

“No, Sir. Not really. It’s just, things are different now, ya know? This ship is different, the personnel are different… you’re different.” Eli couldn’t look his friend in the eye, the statement had been more accusatory than he’d realised. Thrawn was acting differently, but not _indifferently_ to Eli.

Thrawn cocked his head to one side, “You feel _I_ have not been giving you the respect due your new rank?”

“No, Sir! You’re just- it’s stupid. I’m just nervous about messin’ up, I guess. I’m not used to doin’ so much on my own, without your guidance. I’ll get used to it.”

“You feel I have not been supporting you in your new role?” Thrawn’s tone was soft and quiet, he seemed to be musing over the point.

“Sir, you have your own new responsibilities. You’ve done so much for me over the years, made me into the man I am today. I guess I’m just stumblin' over my own feet at the moment.”

“I have indeed been giving you space to grow and to fail, Lieutenant Commander. You deserve the ability to stumble. Though you have not done so visibly to my knowledge.” Thrawn’s small smirk eased Eli’s discomfort. Thrawn’s wit was always subtle, and it always helped defuse the tension of dangerous or difficult situations. More often than once Eli had had to stifle a laugh during moments where such behaviour would have been considered borderline amoral, during battle, or prisoner interrogations.

Or when Eli showed obvious doubt in himself. Thrawn had always been quick to quash such thoughts when brought to his attention.

They arrived at their quarters. Eli’s first.

There was an awkward moment where Thrawn waited, in deep contemplation, before he spoke very quietly, so they could not be overheard. “I will always allow you the space to stumble, Eli. That is how we grow.” He looked down at Eli, he was standing so close there wasn’t more than a few inches between them. “ _But I will **not** let you fall.”_

The insistence in Thrawn’s voice made Eli swallow hard. There was something in those red glowing eyes that had not been there before. Something Eli would have wanted to describe as tender. Something brushed against his forearm, but as Eli looked to see what it was, Thrawn brusquely turned and walked to his own room. He’d only had a glimpse of what it was, but it was completely unmistakeable.

Thrawn had brushed Eli's arm with his finger tips for a split second. His blue hand pulling away abruptly as Eli’s gaze moved from his.

 

Eli plonked down on his bed.

 _What the hell just happened? Was it an accident?_ _A gesture of reassurance?_

Thrawn had never really touched him before. Sure, they had brushed past each other in close quarters, it wasn’t like there was a force-field between them. CO’s were allowed to be relatively affectionate, Cheno had been a ‘slap you on the back for good work’ kind of captain. But really the only time he and Thrawn ever specifically touched each other was either in the combat dojo, or when tending wounds after a mission.

Eli had often fantasied about more. Thrawn was more than just attractive, he was brilliant and heroic and had a strange wildness to him even under the stifling uniform. A creature Eli knew would never truly be tamed or cowed. It was exciting just to be near him, all that physical and mental strength held so closely in check.

Eli wondered what it would be like to see him unrestrained. What it would be like to feel him go truly wild in his hands. Thrawn liked to talk, would he be as vocal between the sheets? Would Eli be able to find a way to make the stoic Chiss beg?

He stripped and made his way to the sonic shower.

_I’ve done this before. It’s no big deal. I’ll just blow off some steam, while thinking about him blowing me, and tomorrow I’ll feel better. It’s nothing to do with that look, or that touch, or the way his eyes widened when he realised he’d touched me. It’s all in my head, like it always is. I’m just his aide. I’m just his aide._

He imagined Thrawn on his back with his hair mussed and a glazed look in his eyes. It wasn’t hard to imagine. Eli had knocked Thrawn down in the dojo a few times, it always seemed to please him more than it did to knock Eli down.

His hands drifted down his body to his already hard member. He stroked gently, wishing it was a water shower, trying to imagine what Thrawn’s mouth might feel like in the same place. The thought made him catch his breath. Thrawn on his knees in the streaming water, the wet sounds of a dedicated blow job echoed through his mind.

Eli was stockier than Thrawn. His long limbs could probably reach all the way up his chest in that position. He could tangle his fingers in that iridescent black hair until he was fully sated. Then he would do the same for Thrawn.

Eli leant back against the cold wall of the shower, his breath coming in groans and gasps. He just wanted to know, once and for all, what it might be like to have that lithe wall of blue muscle under his hands.

He groaned as the pressure built in his abdomen and then he came, to thoughts of his Commanding Officer on his knees in front of him. Eli didn’t care if it was proper, or if the Navy had strict rules about no single sex relationships. There would probably be rules around no interspecies relationships too, if Thrawn hadn’t been the only non-human officer in the Navy.

Pleasure erupted through him and his knees nearly buckled. Trying to construct a clear image of Thrawn looking up at him, his dark blue lips swollen and an eager look in his red eyes, his cock straining in its urgency to be touched, fulfilled.

A man, a non-human. His parents would be so ashamed.

Eli sighed as shame washed away the last of the romantic notions. He could never make his feelings known, certainly not as long as either of them were in the military. Eli knew Thrawn would never leave, and he would never leave Thrawn.

They were stuck. Or at least _he_ was stuck. But he couldn’t bring himself to just let it go, it's not like he had no other offers. And he’d been getting a new one every day since his promotion and arrival on the _Chimaera._

There was that pretty Senior Lieutenant Ruby Denasous. She’d practically trailed him around the bridge on his third day, under the guise of ‘helping the new Lt Commander find his feet’, but every time he’d asked her for the offered assistance she’d blushed and stammered. She’d even nearly toppled into the crew pit she was so distracted by him.

_Perhaps I shouldn’t have declined her offer for drinks after our shift? Aw, who am I kiddin'. It wouldn’t be fair to lead her on. How can anyone compete with Thrawn? Even if it’s all in my head, just workin' along side him is enough to make everyone else fade into the distance._

Eli put himself to bed. Wondering what it would be like to lay down next to the man he had loved at first sight. Even dressed in ragged animal skins Thrawn’s presence had been enough to blow all the others right out of his metaphorical romantic sky.

As long as he was near, Eli would always be his.

Even if Thrawn never knew it.


End file.
